I was doing a bit of cleaning up in my email’s inbox and I rediscovered a few emails sent by Rodion Rosca back in August 2018 to me and a bunch of his friends, containing some of his older songs. A few of them appeared on the Formații Rock 5 compilation released by Electrecord in 1981 and another one was never publicly released. This song can’t be found on Youtube or Mixcloud or Bandcamp and only a handful of people might have it, people who got it from Rodion himself or one of his friends.
The content of that email is below and afterwards, I’ll add a rough translation. At the end of the article, you’ll find the unreleased song that was attached to it, named “Piatra” (The Stone), written in 1969. Maybe this way his work will reach more people and they will appreciate it and look for more info about the man who was the Father of Romanian Electronic music. Also make sure to watch the documentary about him.
UITE AICI ITI TRIMIT PIESA PIATRA COMPUSA LA VARSTA DE 16 ANI !!!
CRITICA LA ADRESA REGIMULUI CEAUSIST CARE SUGERA SA CANTAM IN PIESELE NOASTRE MUZICALE DESPRE PIATRA , CIMENT , BETON SI MACARALE CU CARE STATUL CONSTRUIA BLOCURI , DAR ERAM VANATI DE MILITIA DRACULUI , SI NU ERAM LASATI SA PURTAM : MINIJUPP , PAR LUNG SAU BRETON !
CINE VREA SA CANTE PIATRA
ACELUIA NU-I PLACE ARTA
NU POATE CA SA CREEZE
STIE DOAR CA SA DICTEZE !
VA PRICEPETI DOAR LA PIETRE
OCUPATI-VA DE ELE !
IA LASATI ARTA IN PACE …
IAR EU SA CANT CUM IMI PLACE !!!
CANT IUBIREA !!! NU CARAMIDA !!!
CANT , O FLOARE !!! NU BETON !!!
E DOAR MODA : NU E CRIMA !!!!
VREAU SA PORT PAR LUNG !!! BRETON !!!
TEXTUL ESTE SCRIS DE MINE LA 16 ANI
CU DRAG : RODION
The translation is pretty loose, especially on the lyrics, which are translated only to transmit the meaning of the words, not to be a poetic translation (I’m not fucking Shakespeare)
This is a song I’ve composed when I was 16 year old. It’s a critique towards the Ceausescu regime who suggested that we sing in our songs about the stone, cement, concrete and cranes that the government used to build blocks of flats, but we were hunted by the damned Militia (police) and we weren’t allowed to wear: mini-skirts, long hair or bangs!
Who wants the stone to sing
Is someone who doesn’t like art
He cannot create
He can only dictate !
You know only about stones
Deal with them !
Leave the arts alone …
And leave me sing how I like !!!
I sing the love !!! Not the brick !!!
I sing a flower !!! Not concrete !!!
It’s just the fashion: not a crime !!!!
I want to have long hair !!! And bangs !!!
The lyrics are written by me when I was 16 years old.
Love, Rodion.
The song is below, have a bit of patience, it has about 10 seconds of silence in the beginning, which I’ve decided not to cut and upload the mp3 file exactly how it was sent by Rodion back then.
Rodion G.A. - Piatra // The Stone
1969
3:53 // 320bkps // 44100 Hz // 9.4MB
Never publicly released.